The Royals appeared to ready to trade veteran closer Octavio Dotel to the Atlanta Braves on Monday afternoon for right-handed starter Kyle Davies.

Neither club has yet offered official confirmation, although several sources indicated a deal was tentatively in place.

“It’s inappropriate for me to comment on any deal that may or may not happen,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “When and if there is a deal, we’ll make an announcement.”

The holdup appears to be on the Braves’ end and concerns their ability to work out final details on a trade earlier in the day in which they acquired first baseman Mark Teixeira and reliever Ron Mahay from the Rangers for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, shortstop Elvis Andrus and two pitching prospects.

The non-waiver trading deadline is 3 p.m. Tuesday. The Royals continue to discuss trade possibilities with other club in case talks break down with the Braves.

The Dodgers, Indians and Mariners have strongly pursued Dotel, who entered Monday’s series opener against the Twins at 2-1 with a 3.91 ERA and 11 saves in 14 opportunities since returning May 22 from the disabled list.

Davies, 23, has spent parts of the last three seasons in the Braves’ rotation but has yet to reach their projection of a front-line starter. He was demoted recently to Class AAA Richmond after going 4-8 with a 5.76 ERA in 17 starts.

Davies was the Braves’ fourth-round pick in 2001 as a 17-year-old and reached the majors in 2005. He is a combined 14-21 with a 6.15 ERA in 52 games, including 45 starts, in parts of three seasons.http://www.kansascity.com/385/story/211348.html

Its offical, Dotel to the Braves for Davies

Last edited by Havok1517 on Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the Mariners offered Wladimir Balentien to Kansas City before the Royals picked the Braves' offer of Kyle Davies for Octavio Dotel.

Interesting. Though he's still hardly a sure thing, Balentien offers 35- or 40-homer potential and has come a long way this year. While we like the current deal for the Royals, we would have gone with Balentien over Davies.Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer